Love Is Wild! Episode 2: Date Ideas from the Animal Kingdom

Hey there! Did you need inspiration for a Valentine’s Day activity? Then look no further than our curated list from the animal kingdom.

Cute Valentine’s Day Dates:

Bald Eagles: Group skydiving

That’s right folks, nothing cements the bond between a couple quite like plummeting toward the ground together at terrifying speeds! When bald eagles (and several other related species) engage in courtship, they will fly up into the air, lock their talons, and dive toward the ground, separating just in time to keep from crashing. It’s deeply romantic. We humans can’t fly, but that’s nothing that a plane and a couple of parachutes won’t fix!

Peacock Spiders: Dance Party!

Show your special someone how much you’re into them by performing a song and dance and showing off your coolest outfit. Self-expression is the truest language of love, after all. Male peacock spiders will court females by performing a complex dance, waving their legs and lifting a brilliant multicolored fan on their abdomen. At the same time, they’ll drum their legs on the ground, creating a song through a series of vibrations. If the female likes his performance enough, she’ll select him as a mate! If she doesn’t, she might eat him. Actually, she might just eat him regardless. So, uh… don’t do that part.

Marbled Crayfish: Clone yourself!

Are you single this Valentine’s Day? Well, so are plenty of animal species on a kind of permanent basis! They say: romance is overrated. Is there any kind of love more important than self-love? Marbled crayfish are just one such species that can reproduce without any help from a partner at all. This invasive species reproduces by completely copying its own genetic code, laying eggs that hatch into identical clones of them. Fun! We can’t clone ourselves just yet, but maybe soon you’ll be able to create an entire army out of identical copies of you and pursue world domination. Treat yourself!

So get out there. Do some dances! Sing some songs! Or maybe just focus on yourself. Wherever love takes you this Valentine’s Day, just remember: it’s all natural ❤

Written by: Jacob Johnson is a fifth-year animal behavior PhD student at UC Davis studying how animals respond to rapid environmental changes. When he’s not out chasing birds, he enjoys playing jazz saxophone, running board game nights, and writing about nature. His first book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Darwin, is available now.

References:

[1] Simmons, R. E., & Mendelsohn, J. M. (1993). A Critical Review of Cartwheeling Flights of Raptors. Ostrich, 64(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00306525.1993.9634190

[2] Girard, M. B., Kasumovic, M. M., & Elias, D. O. (2011). Multi-Modal Courtship in the Peacock Spider, Maratus volans (O.P.-Cambridge, 1874). PLoS ONE, 6(9), e25390. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025390